Samoan opposition party says new electoral laws aimed at them
Updated
The leader of Samoa's main opposition party has appealed to Australia and New Zealand to pressure the government not to proceed with changes to the country's electoral system. The Tautua Samoa party claims it is the main taget of proposed changes to the electoral act which would force its MPs to lose their seats in parliament and face by-elections for changing their party affiliation from the one they were elected on. The party has a High Court ruling saying they can operate, but its leader, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, says the new laws will reverse that verdict, as they will be applied retroactively.
Presenter: Bruce Hill
Speaker: Tautua Samoa Party leader leader Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi
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AIAFI: The amendments was based on the High Court ruling on our case. It means that it well eventually establish the decisions for Samoa, as a means of any member of parliament that joins a political party, whether registered or unregistered, outside of parliament, that member of parliament will void his seat, his or her seats and will call for by-elections.
HILL: But at the moment, you actually have a High Court ruling in your favour saying that you can operate as a party?
AIAFI: The court ruling says that it is unconstitutional and the amendments also - we worked the amendments - is also very unconstitutional, because of the freedom of association. The amendments says that even if you don't form south foreman, even if your registered or unregistered, but as long as you have a political motive in your organisation or association or any member of parliament who joins such association will also void their seat, which is also withholds principles of the constitution and also the freedom of your rights, human rights. Mind you, the name of the ruling party is the Human Rights Protection Party, HRPP. So what they have proposed and what they brought forward into parliament is against what they stood for.
HILL: What's the reaction been like from members of parliament in your party to this? How do they feel about what the government is doing?
AIAFI: No-one is going to go back on this. We all agreed, we have discussed it, that we are not going to go back, we are not going to back down, we're going to go ahead, we are seeing repeats of the last scenario that we will be chased out of parliament, and we have to go against the court.
HILL: Is there any pressure that you think you can bring to bear on the Samoan government to get it to change its mind at all about this?
AIAFI: Yes, I think that our main political partners and aid donors, especially Australia and New Zealand, why can't they step in? They are the ones who brought in transparency and accountability and Samoa is known by the aid donors as a government that's based its principles and its governance on transparency and accountability. But what is happening in parliament now is the opposite of what they have been saying over the past years.
HILL: Well, what do you think Australia and New Zealand could do about this? Isn't this an internal matter for the Samoan people to work out?
AIAFI: Well that's right, but there are matters that they need to step in.
HILL: One of the other changes that the government wants to make to the electoral rules is essentially a change which will make only Matai, or traditional chiefs or orators to be eligible to stand for parliament. Is this something that the Samoan people support?
AIAFI: That's when we question whether we the democracy that we practice here is really a true democracy, because before, a few years back, only matais can vote, but now then they introduce a rule that anyone above 21 can vote. But then there always allocated two seats at the half-caste Samoans to come into parliament. It doesn't matter whether you are matai or not. But now this has been the amendments, all members of parliament now are required to have a chiefly name, a matai title, which is against the philosophy of democracy. I don't know why they have done this and I don't know whether this will make this country prosper or go forward. It's very undemocratic that is what I think and I believe that. If you really pursue democracy, anyone whether matai or non-Matai can become a member of parliament.
